Zimbabwe MPs back takeover of white firms

White Zimbabweans found themselves a step closer to losing control of their businesses to black people yesterday as a result of new government legislation.

The ruling Zanu-PF party in parliament approved the indigenisation and economic empowerment bill on Wednesday night. The proposed law calls for white owners to hand over 51% of their business interests to black people. Opposition MPs walked out of the sitting, saying the bill was racist and unconstitutional.

The legislation has yet to be approved by the senate and signed into law by President Robert Mugabe. After those formalities, legal work could take months.

"It's the farms [seizures in 2000] all over again. What next, our homes?" said the white owner of an engineering firm, who did not want to be named. "Keep me out of this or I'll be the first on the list. I'd be out of here if I could." He said he was looking for a black partner for the firm.

On Tuesday Paul Mangwana, the minister in charge of black empowerment, said only white people "disadvantaged by the colonial system" before independence in 1980 were defined as "indigenous" Zimbabweans who would be allowed to keep majority control of businesses. "The bill is not about economics, but politics. It is about the total liberation of Zimbabwe," he told a panel of MPs on Tuesday.

Like the farm takeovers, the bill was to correct colonial-era imbalances, the media quoted Mr Mangwana saying. "If a white person wants to start a business he should partner with indigenous persons. We are not stopping anyone from starting a business," he said.

An estimated 30,000 white people still live in the population of 12.5 million, down from about 275,000 at independence. Associated Press